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From the work, True Christian Religion 287
287. The literal sense of the Ten Commandments contains general instructions on doctrine and life; but their spiritual and celestial senses contain universal instructions.
It is well known that the Ten Commandments are called in the Word the Law par excellence, because they contain everything concerning doctrine and life, not only everything which concerns God, but also everything which concerns man. That is why the law was written on two tablets, one dealing with God, the other with man. It is also well known that the whole of doctrine and life relate to love to God and love towards the neighbour. The whole of these loves is contained in the Ten Commandments. This is the teaching of the whole Word, as is evident from these words of the Lord:
Jesus said, You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself. The law and the prophets depend upon these two commandments. Matt. 22:35-37, 40.
The law and the prophets mean the whole Word. And further:
A lawyer testing Jesus said, Master, what must I do to inherit everlasting life? And Jesus said to him, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? And he in answer said, You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself. And Jesus said, Do this, and you will live, Luke 10:25-28.
[2] Now since love to God and love towards the neighbour are the whole of the Word; and since the first tablet of the Ten Commandments contains in summary form the whole of love to God, and the second tablet contains the whole of love towards the neighbour, it follows that they contain the whole of doctrine and life. A look at the two tablets makes it plain that they are so linked that God from His tablet has man in view, and man in his turn from his has God in view. Thus there is a reciprocal viewing, such that on God’s part He never fails to keep man in view and perform the actions needed for his salvation; and if a person accepts and does the things laid down in his tablet, the link becomes reciprocal. Then, as the Lord’s words promised to the lawyer, ‘Do this, and you will live.’
From the work, Arcana Coelestia 7933
Behold, we are going up into Jerusalem where all things will be accomplished that have been written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man. Luke 18:31.
And in Matthew,
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law and the Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Truly I say to you, Even until heaven and earth pass away, one lot or one little horn [on a letter] will not pass away in the Law till all things are done. Matt. 5:17, 18.
[3] In these statements and in those which the Lord makes elsewhere about the fulfilment of the Law or Scripture He means, as has been stated, the things foretold about Himself in the internal sense. Every single detail in that sense, even to each jot or each smallest tittle, has to do with the Lord. This is why He says that ‘one jot or one little horn will not pass away in the Law till all things are done’. And in Luke,
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the Law to fall. Luke 16:17.
Anyone who does not know that every detail even to the smallest of all has to do in the internal sense with the Lord and His kingdom, and that for this reason the Word is most holy, cannot begin to understand what this may mean, that not one tittle will fall, that not one jot or little horn will pass away, and that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away. For although the details that present themselves in the outward sense do not seem to be so important, the continuity of the text inwardly is such that not a part of a word could be left out without causing a break in the sequence of thought.
From the work, Arcana Coelestia 9152
When therefore a member of the Church in whom the good of faith is present reads the Word, the angels attach themselves to the person and take delight in him because they delight in the wisdom which flows into them from the Lord through the Word. In this way heaven is linked to mankind; and without the Word that link would not exist. For the nature of the Word is such that not even a tittle or a jot of it in the original language fails to touch angels’ affections and link the angels to mankind. I can positively declare this to be so because I have been shown it from heaven.
From the work, Arcana Coelestia 9349
[2] Therefore also in the Lord’s Divine Providence it has happened that every jot and tittle of the Word, especially in the Old Testament, has been preserved since it was written. I have been shown from heaven that in the Word not only each word but also each letter, indeed – incredibly so – each small part of a letter in the original language has an inner holiness, as angels of the inmost heaven are able to perceive. I can positively declare this to be so, but I realize that it surpasses belief. From this it is evident that outward religious observances of the Church, which represented the Lord and the inner realities of heaven and the Church which begin in the Lord, and about which one reads in the Old Testament Word, have indeed for the most part been abrogated. But it continues to be the Word with its Divine holiness, because all the details there, as has been stated, continue to hold within themselves holy and Divine things, which are perceived in heaven when that Word is read. For it has in all its details an inner, holy content, which is its internal sense , or heavenly and Divine sense. This sense is the soul of the Word; it is God’s truth itself emanating from the Lord, and so it is the Lord Himself.
